West Coast Connection Forum
Lifestyle => Train of Thought => Topic started by: LooN3y on April 24, 2008, 12:45:38 PM
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WASHINGTON - The Syrian nuclear reactor allegedly built with North Korean design help and destroyed last year by Israeli jets was within weeks or months of being functional, a top U.S. official said Thursday.
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The facility was mostly completed but still needed significant testing before it could be declared operational, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
However, no uranium — needed to fuel a reactor — was evident at the site, a remote area of eastern Syria along the Euphrates River.
The Syrian reactor was similar in design to a North Korean reactor at Yongbyon that has in the past produced small amounts of plutonium, U.S. officials said. Plutonium is highly radioactive and can be used to make powerful nuclear weapons or radiological bombs.
Top members of the House intelligence committee said Thursday after being briefed on the facility by intelligence and administration officials that the reactor posed a serious threat of spreading dangerous nuclear materials.
"This is a serious proliferation issue, both for the Middle East and the countries that may be involved in Asia," said Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich.
CIA Director Michael Hayden, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley briefed lawmakers, who were shown a video presentation of intelligence information that the administration contends establishes a strong link between North Korea's nuclear program and the bombed Syrian site. It included still photographs that showed a strong resemblance between specific features of the plant and the one near Yongbyon.
According to officials familiar with the presentation, it did not show moving images inside the facility or any North Korean workers, but included photographs that depict similarities between the North Korean and Syrian reactor designs.
Hoekstra and Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, told reporters after the closed meeting that they were angry that the Bush administration had delayed briefing the full committee for eight months.
"It's bad management and terrible public policy to go for eight months knowing this was out there and then drop this in our laps six hours before they go to the public," Hoekstra said.
President Bush's failure to keep Congress informed has created friction that may imperil congressional support for Bush's policies toward North Korea and Syria, he said.
"It totally breaks down any trust that you have between the administration and Congress," Hoekstra said. "I think it really jeopardizes any type of the agreement they may come up with" regarding North Korea.
The Syrian site has been veiled in secrecy until this week, with U.S. intelligence and government officials refusing to confirm until now suspicions that the site was to be a nuclear reactor.
White House press secretary Dana Perino said Bush stood by the statement he made in October 2006 when he described North Korea as one of the world's leading proliferators of missile technology, including transfers to Iran and Syria.
"The transfer of nuclear weapons or material by North Korea to states or non-state entities would be considered a grave threat to the United States, and we would hold North Korea fully accountable of the consequences of such action," Bush said then.
Perino refrained from describing what she thought the consequences could be.
"Let's let the briefings take place and the declaration take place and we'll move on from there," she said.
Perino said that the information being provided to lawmakers today will not come as a surprise to any member of the six-party talks.
The administration has thus far refused to reveal why it chose to release the information now, but the briefings come at a critical time in the diplomatic effort to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons.
As part of that process, the North is required to submit a "declaration" detailing its programs and proliferation activity, but the talks are stalled over Pyongyang's refusal to publicly admit the Syria connection. However, officials say the North Koreans are willing to accept international "concern" about unspecified proliferation.
By disclosing North Korean-Syrian cooperation to Congress, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog and the public, the administration may have overcome that impasse by giving North Korea a "concern" that it can acknowledge in the declaration.
North Korea was aware that the administration would be releasing the information and its Foreign Ministry said Thursday that a visit to Pyongyang this week by a U.S. delegation to discuss the declaration made progress. It did not elaborate.
At the same time, the administration's release of the intelligence shines light on alleged malfeasance by Syria, which has signed an international treaty requiring it to disclose nuclear interests and activity, and makes it easier for Israel to explain its decision to destroy the site.
Syria has not declared the alleged reactor to the International Atomic Energy Agency nor was it under international safeguards, possibly putting Syria in breech of an international nuclear nonproliferation treaty.
In the Syrian capital of Damascus, legislator Suleiman Haddad, who heads the parliament's foreign relations committee, told The Associated Press that the videotape does not deserve a response.
"America is looking for any problem in order to accuse Syria," Haddad said by telephone. "Do we need Korean workers to work in Syria?"
"It is regretful to say that America is putting us among its enemies and therefore this talk (at Congress) does not deserve a response. America is trying to create an atmosphere of war in the region," Haddad said. He did not elaborate.
Israeli warplanes bombed the site in Syria on Sept. 6, 2007. A new, larger building has been constructed in its place.
U.S. officials were also briefing members of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, at its Vienna headquarters.
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Pffft, nuke here, nuke their. Oh oh Iran is building nukes, North Korea has a few, Syria wants them. Minor details. These countries with nukes won't cause WW3. If another world war happened, it'll be the US's fault 100%. The US will over react, like it always does, do something stupid, like invade Iran, and then the world will get pissed off at the US. Believe me, the next large war will be, the US vs China, Russia, India, Pakistan, N. Korea, Iran and the rest of those countries. And France and Germany and the rest of the West won't do shit, because their smart enough not to get involved with the US or another war.
The US is the new aggressor in the world, and their foreign policy has lead to the fact, unless we have a nuke to threaten with, we'll get pushed around. Fact is, if your not a nuclear state, your not going to get respect from the US. They'll invade if needed. No way the US is going to try and invade a country with a nuclear weapon.
And even if Syria has a nuclear weapon, how the fuck would they launch it across an ocean. Having a nuke, and being able to launch it, are two completely different technologies. Both of which are probably equally difficult these days. Hmm nuke the US, or nuke Isreal (which they would do if the US got all pissy for nothing).
America is trying to create an atmosphere of war in the region
The US has 0 credibility after what they did to Iraq. With the whole, this photo shows a mobile weapons factory. How the fuck do you make a mistake about that? Bush and everyone involved knowingly lied about every reason related to Iraq and it's WMDs. They willingly made up lies, so they could invade. It wasn't a mistake. A mistake is pouring orange juice into your cereal instead of milk. Bush didn't make a mistake. He lied. And now NO ONE should believe a fucking thing he says related to Middle East foreign policy.
Is it so bad if Iran had a nuke to defend itself? Why can the US have 6000 active nukes, in bombers, in subs, in silos, and Iran can't even have 1? Iran can't even have NUCLEAR POWER. I trust Iran more with nukes then the US. Because Iran only has 1. The US could nuke whoever it wants. Iran must save it's 1 nuke, must protect it. It's a bargaining tool. You can't invade us because we have a nuke. That's a pretty good idea when the US is all high on the idea of invading countries.
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PNAC Rebuilding Americas Defences...They would love a world war which would allow the anglo american elite to completely re-order the entire society. You think these fucks were bluffing when they proposed military action in 60 countries? these people are pure evil and god help us if they get their way, most of us will die and those that survive will become slaves akin to the serfs of russia.
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Not until Allah says so, it ain't.
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PNAC Rebuilding Americas Defences...They would love a world war which would allow the anglo american elite to completely re-order the entire society. You think these fucks were bluffing when they proposed military action in 60 countries? these people are pure evil and god help us if they get their way, most of us will die and those that survive will become slaves akin to the serfs of russia.
in your opinion do you think china and other communist allies would back north korea if there was any military action?
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fuck the US goverment,fuck hillary that bitch
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Well if you look at the wider aim of the document, it's to encircle China and starve China of resources. Also if you look at the moves being undertaken against Russia, it's also about encircling them, having missile "defence" systems set up in Poland, in Czech Republic, humiliating Russia through the public backing of an independent Kosovo. I think there is a very real prospect that China would indeed join North Korea if North Korea are provoked militarily. The bottom line is, these devils must be stopped before they end up destroying us all.
England..... the home of justice for all and yet if I protest along with another person without prior authorisation, then I am breaking the law. This is the problem, these fucks know that should things go down, we will view these other countries as the enemy. Not that I am going to pretend that the iranian government is wonderful, or the north korean government is wonderful, they are not, the first is a horrible police state, the second is a giant slaughter house but these western elite bastards are plotting our own demise to.
Also what's even more crazy than this idea of a never ending cycle of war, is the fact that while these crazy bastards are running the military machine into the ground, China is not getting itself entangled in conflicts and wars and therefore is able to shore up and build up and invest more and more in weaponry and personell.
Google this...P2OG it's a pentagon plan to provoke "terrorists" into action by attacking them first in other words using us as the bait hoping that their own terrorism results in these people retaliating and taking innocent western lives.
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fuck the US goverment,fuck hillary that bitch
damn!
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no its not.
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the irony of the whole nuclear debate is the fact that only one country has ever launched a nuclear bomb and that has been the USA TWICE!!!!
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the irony of the whole nuclear debate is the fact that only one country has ever launched a nuclear bomb and that has been the USA TWICE!!!!
yes
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the irony of the whole nuclear debate is the fact that only one country has ever launched a nuclear bomb and that has been the USA TWICE!!!!
Twice??
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oh no! the end of the world is comming lol
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the irony of the whole nuclear debate is the fact that only one country has ever launched a nuclear bomb and that has been the USA TWICE!!!!
Twice??
Hiroshima, Nagasaki...
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the irony is those nukes saved more lives than they killed and talking both US and Japanese
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OH FUCK!!!